Dr. Ali Önder Yildirim is director of the Institute of Lung Biology and Disease and head of the research group "Immunopathology of COPD” and is studying the role and involvement of immune cells in the chronic inflammatory response in COPD and lung transplantation.

The goal of the general lung function screen is to evaluate genotype specific differences in respiratory function of anesthetized restrained animals, for lung disease patterns typical for chronic lung diseases e.g. COPD, asthma, and lung fibrosis. Gaining Insight into the genetic background involved in these phenotypes will help to improve our current understanding on genetic traits of lung function development as well as genetically linked pathways for disorders of the lung, and will offer the opportunity for developing new therapeutic or preventive strategies in biomedical research.